Marketers Weighed Down by Collaboration Woes

Siloed working has long been a problem that marketers have been looking to address, but new research by analytics platform Teradata hints that a solution is still some way off.

In Teradata’s Data-Driven Marketing Survey 2013, a worrying 74% of marketers said that marketing and IT are not strategic partners in their employer’s company and a third only coordinate with other departments ad hoc.

Teradata also found that B2B and B2C departments were often segmented by public relations, employee communications, advertising, digital marketing, industry and market research.

Silos had an overwhelmingly demoralising effect on employee wellbeing, often creating tension between departments while undermining customer satisfaction, reducing efficiency and increasing costs.

Breaking down barriers

While a large share are being held back from optimum collaboration because of company processes, 56% of respondents did admit to working with other departments on a regular basis.

Lisa Arthur, Teradata’s chief marketing officer for marketing applications agreed that there was a an alternative to siloed working, but it involved hard work and differed from company to company.

"Marketing leaders have many organisational and technological options to address the silo problem, yet truly rectifying it calls for taking a strategic, data-driven approach toward creating a culture that unifies decision-making," she said.

"Tearing down the silos is a critical step for achieving success with data-driven marketing."

Read on to see some tips for overcoming silos in the infographic below.

Simon Holland

Simon is the news and research reporter at Existem. Previously a technology journalist, he now spends his time investigating both future and developing trends in performance marketing whilst producing editorial content for performancein.com.